Texas Rangers: It’s time to send Drew Robinson to the minors

Drew Robinson has played very poorly for the Texas Rangers this season. It’s time they send him back to the minor leagues.

Injuries have forced the Texas Rangers to piece together starting lineups in a way that they weren’t expecting at the season’s start. With Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre and Rougned Odor on the disabled list, Texas has given substantial playing time to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jurickson Profar and Drew Robinson. Opportunities have worked out quite well for two of them, but not so much for the other.

Dipping into the role player pot or the minor league pot can go two ways. Either a player will really impress with regular playing time, or he will prove he’s not major league ready. Profar has done well with regular playing time, as has rookie Kiner-Falefa. Drew Robinson, however, has suffered from the other extreme.

In 26 games played, Robinson is hitting .175 and slugging .238. He has also struckout in 45 out of his 80 at-bats. Yes, you read that correctly.

He’s also struggled in the field, recording the second most errors on the team with four. Robinson has shown versatility by playing multiple positions this season, but he has not played any of them at a high level.

What Drew Robinson is experiencing is a typical lack of confidence. Though we do not know exactly the thoughts that are going through his mind, it’s clear he is far from sure of himself when stepping between the lines.

It’s not that he isn’t major league capable. After all, he brought a decent punch when called up to the Texas Rangers in 2017. Robinson slashed .224/.314/.439 in 48 games with the Rangers last season. He also hit six home runs.

Strikeouts were in issue then as well, 42 in 107 at-bats, but he did a number of things well to make up for it. That has not been the case in 2018. In fact, Texas has essentially been giving up an out every time he’s stepped to the plate.

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Point being, Drew Robinson needs to be demoted to Triple-A. His confidence is shattering with the big league squad and his participation is hurting the big league squad. Send him down and allow him to work things out.

Who should replace Robinson? The Texas Rangers can replace him with reliable utility infielder, Hanser Alberto. Alberto is an outstanding glove and he can play anywhere in the infield. Hitting is not his speciality, though, he’ll certainly put forth more competitive at-bats than what Drew Robinson has thus far.

At the end of the day, MLB is production-based business. Drew Robinson has not been at all productive. Playing him as often as Jeff Banister has is not fair given his immense struggles. Hanser Alberto is a better placeholder than Robinson.

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We’ll see what the Rangers do. Rougned Odor will be back soon so the team may wait to move Robinson until that time.